
PPG News – Getting urgent care
For most urgent or semi-urgent care required during normal working
hours, patients of Botley Medical Centre, including Kennington patients,
should call the Medical Centre – 01865 248719. During the working day
there is always a doctor on duty. The Medical Centre can offer same-day
appointments, with a doctor or with a practice nurse, or the patient can
book a phone call with the duty doctor.
Out of working hours, there are now two new routes to obtaining care:
1. More out of hours GP appointments
Local GPs, working together in federations, including the OxFed
federation of Oxford practices which includes Botley Medical Centre,
have planned to eventually provide over 5,000 more appointments a
month to patients across Oxfordshire to improve access to healthcare.
These include consultations with GPs, nurses, and other practice staff.
In Oxford, the additional appointments are provided at St Bartholomew’s
Medical Centre. Over half of the appointments are provided at times when
practices are usually closed, including during weekday evenings (6.30pm
– 8pm), or on Saturdays and Sundays. This gives patients greater choice
about when and where they can access GP services.
All GPs and other clinicians working at St Bartholomew’s are able to
access patient notes with the consent of the patient.
Patients can book routine appointments in advance, as well as same-day
urgent appointments, by phoning their own practice receptionist, who will
advise them of available slots and make a booking on their behalf. The
times and locations of hub services will be available on practice websites
so that patients can choose an appropriate time to request an
appointment.
If people are unable to book a GP appointment under the scheme and
need to see a doctor urgently out of hours they should contact NHS 111.
In due course it will be helpful to know how many patients make use of
this new service, and the practice will have access to this information.
2. Improved access to urgent care via a 111 call
The 111 service allows patients to access urgent, as opposed to
emergency, care, with a phone call. This service is especially useful
when an appointment with a GP cannot be booked through a patient’s
local practice. In an emergency, however, patients should call 999.
According to the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, the 111